Moderate wine consumption: beneficial effects on blood clotting markers in coronary heart disease
A Greek intervention study investigated the question whether moderate wine consumption with meals can offer blood clotting benefits in patients with existing coronary artery disease.
The study examined the effects of moderate wine consumption on inflammation and thrombosis markers in men with coronary heart disease (CHD). The research team had previously demonstrated that wine extracts can prevent red blood platelets from clumping together. This so-called platelet aggregation is an important initial step in blood clotting and the formation of blood clots (thrombi), which can be particularly life-threatening for CHD patients. An important initiator of platelet clumping is the platelet-activating factor (PAF).
The Greek study recruited 71 CHD patients (64 participated and 57 remained until the end of the study) and randomly divided them into three groups. One-third of the subjects would abstain from consuming any alcoholic beverage for eight weeks. They served as control group for the two interventions with alcoholic beverages: the wine drinker group, which consumed 200 ml of Cabernet Sauvignon with lunch or dinner for eight weeks, and the alcohol group, which was required to consume 69 ml of a Greek pomace brandy (tsipouro) with one meal a day during the study period. The number of drinks were calculated, so that the wine and alcohol groups consumed the same amount of alcohol (27 g/day).
At the beginning of the study and after four and eight weeks, blood values were examined to measure changes in the following parameters in all three groups:
- The activity of enzymes involved in the synthesis or breakdown of the procoagulant activation factor PAF.
- Various biomarkers involved in thrombosis, such as tissue-specific plasminogen activator (tPA), its inhibitor, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI), the procoagulant fibrinogen, and the clot-dissolving D-dimer.
- The extent to which the clumping of the participants‘ blood platelets was triggered by PAF and other inducers.
In the wine drinkers, lower enzyme activities for the synthesis of the blood coagulation factor PAF were observed. In the alcohol group, however, enzyme activities were increased. Only in the group of wine drinkers, fibrinogen and the activity of tissue-specific plasminogen activator (tPA) decreased significantly. Both parameters indicate a lower tendency to thrombosis.
The different effects observed in wine and spirits drinkers clearly indicated that moderate wine consumption had more positive effects on blood clotting and thrombosis markers. The authors attributed this effect to bioactive wine components such as the polyphenols. Their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antithrombotic properties are well documented. Thus, the current study provides evidence that wine, when consumed in moderation and with a meal, can be part of a healthy lifestyle, even for patients with CHD. However, the authors note that further studies are needed, both with a larger number of participants and including women.
